“Republican presidential hopeful Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Monday slammed the protesters who have taken over a federal building at a wildlife refuge in rural Oregon, urging them to lay down their arms.

“Every one of us has a constitutional right to protest, to speak our minds,” Cruz told reporters at campaign event in Iowa, according to NBC News.

“But we don’t have a constitutional right to use force and violence and to threaten force and violence on others,” he said. “And so it is our hope that the protesters there will stand down peaceably, that there will not be a violent confrontation.”